It is not histories I am writing, but lives; and in the most glorious deeds there is not always an indication of virtue or vice, indeed a small thing like a phrase or a jest often makes a greater revelation of a character than battles where thousands die.

Authority and place demonstrate and try the tempers of men, by moving every passion and discovering every frailty.

It is no great wonder if in long process of time, while fortune takes her course hither and thither, numerous coincidences should spontaneously occur. If the number and variety of subjects to be wrought upon be infinite, it is all the more easy for fortune, with such an abundance of material, to effect this similarity of results.

To be ignorant of the lives of the most celebrated men of antiquity is to continue in a state of childhood all our days.

Courage stands halfway between cowardice and rashness, one of which is a lack, the other an excess of courage.

When men are arrived at the goal, they should not turn back.

Real excellence, indeed, is most recognized when most openly looked into.